Where would I start?

Not wanting to do it as a job but as everything and anything is becoming controlled by some kind of software I figure it might be a good idea to actually have an idea of how it works. 😆

does any software you use have scripting capabilities ?

does any software you use have scripting capabilities ?

Say what??

https://www.codecademy.com/

MIT have made a lot of their courses available, free of charge, online. They are one of the world’s leading technology schools, and if you really want to get an understanding on how it works, I would recommend spending some time on their courses.

Website

Direct link to Electrical Eng and Comp Sci courses

do you use excel or something like that ?

Yes, I use Excel

If it’s just for fun buy a Raspberry Pi and teach yourself Python.

I’d probably start by downloading the free version of visual studio, then just google for C# tutorials.

https://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/products/visual-studio-community-vs.aspx

For utter novices then Scratch will teach the basics, and you can run that in a browser. Then move on to something “proper” like Python, which you can get for Windows / Mac / whatever.

take up painting! 😆

If it’s just for fun buy a Raspberry Pi and teach yourself Python.

Or just learn Python on a normal computer for free.

https://www.codecademy.com/

start here. see if you get bored.

having a problem you want to solve makes it easier in my experience.

Yes, I use Excel

if you press alt-f11 it brings up the excels Visual Basic window (it’s scripting) you can learn to program excel there (plenty of resources online). Not my cup of tea (though i did write a football betting odds thing in excel once, used to rip the results off the bbc website) but it’s sometimes easier to learn to program if you have some kind of practical application in mind.

What are you hoping to get out of learning how it works? It’s a genuine question. “Learning to Code” is such an expansive phrase that you need to narrow down what you hope to achieve.

Its a bit like saying I want to learn about metallurgy because bikes are made of metal. Is the end goal just to know some more things, or be able to weld, or argue in a pub about the benefits of 725 over 853.

Or just learn Python on a normal computer for free.

True, but it’s quite good fun plugging the Pi into a prototype board and making lights flash on and off 🙂

Arduino is cheaper and plugs into a PC, without all the pain that is Linux. And you can still make lights flash.

I think my point was that if you’re trying to teach yourself programming, it’s nice to have a tangible project to work on, whatever option you choose. There is loads of cool stuff to introduce you to programming.

I think my point was that if you’re trying to teach yourself programming, it’s nice to have a nice tangible project to work on, whatever option you choose.

That’s always been my challenge, working out what to do.

For absolute “never coded before” basics you could do worse than a Pi and Scratch. You get a cool little gadget, exposure to Linux (so you can learn something else whilst you’re at it), and Scratch is a nice little point & click programming environment which will teach you the fundamentals of coding structure without losing half a day in frustration because you’ve missed a semicolon somewhere. Scratch’s entire raison d’etre is as a learning tool, it’s aimed at kids.

From there you can move to a ‘proper’ programming language like Python and hit the ground running. Python, Perl, Visual Basic, etc etc all have different syntax but fundamentally a loop is a loop, a procedure is a procedure whatever language you’re using.

The beauty of the Pi is that there’s a wealth of documentation, project ideas and communities around it both on the interwebs and in dead tree format.

Arduino is cheaper and plugs into a PC, without all the pain that is Linux. And you can still make lights flash.

Built in LED too.
Mbed/Nucleo is even better, and has a built in RGB LED and programming is even easier… do it on a website, drag and drop the file on to the device which appears like a USB stick. Not as many resources as for Pi/Arduino though (although the addons all plug in too).

Definitely agree with thinking of a fun project to do first, rather than just dive in.

Scratch and Lego Mindstorms have good interfaces for learning the basics.
That’s where I started with my children.

Added to my favouites – I found an android app called Learn Python or something similar.

I’ve spent a bit of time on it, but not a lot.

I installed Python on my laptop, but then found the app has a ‘try it’ button, that takes you to a python interface when doing some of the exercises; I still find it easier though to use the laptop to do the ‘code’ stuff & use the tablet app as a tutorial guide, rather than flipping between them just on the tablet.

I guess I don’t have a specific project or ‘requirement’ but thought it would be useful/fun to learn a bit about.
I think my nephew fiddles about with Scratch – he showed me little computer games he’d created & all sorts. He’s also getting to grips with Lego Mindstorm.

If you have never done any coding at all then https://uk.code.org/learn is a decent place to learn the very basics.

I’d agree things like Scratch or even simple games like LightBot are a great way to get the hang of the basics.

Arduino is cheaper and plugs into a PC, without all the pain that is Linux. And you can still make lights flash.

Not convinced it is a great way to learn to code though as there is a fair bit of assumed knowledge and not everyone wants to go directly from no understanding straight into direct control of pins on a microcontroller. And the Arduino IDE isn’t exactly beginner friendly either.

The advantage of the Pi is that it doesn’t plug into a PC, it is a PC. And there are a lot of resources out there for it.

It is a bit sad that coding is much less accessible then when I was a kid – turn on the C64 and get typing in BASIC was how I learned. Just messing about. I know it sounds daft, but if you just want to mess about and try writing simple programs, how about buying a retro computer on eBay and plugging it into the TV?

The idea of having a tangible project is a very good one, though – I’m entirely self-taught in various languages, basically because I had problems I wanted to solve. It’s like learning a (no-programming) language, using it for real is a much better way to learn than trying to learn it abstractly.

There is also the Microbit, although I have to say that most of the projects for it that I’ve seen are pretty pathetic and in a fair few cases you could achieve the same affect with a few bits of electronics and without needing to program anything (flashing LEDS anyone 🙁 ).

I’ll be honest without a ‘project’ in mind I think most people would struggle to be interested. That was the beauty of those old computer mags, the end result was a game, that’s and easy sell to a kid and needs no extra parts.

What interests you about coding, OP?

Flashing electronic lights? Making webpages? Apps? Games? Nuts and bolts?

turn on the C64 and get typing in BASIC was how I learned

Ye gods, you have my sympathies.

I know it sounds daft, but if you just want to mess about and try writing simple programs, how about buying a retro computer

Wish I still had my old ZX Spectrum+ 128k. I wrong many a game on that – very fond memories. Would they work on a modern TV?

Cheers guys, some useful stuff as ever!

What interests you about coding, OP?

Flashing electronic lights? Making webpages? Apps? Games? Nuts and bolts?

Flashing lights of course, if something has flashing lights it must be good!

Another vote for Python from me.

It is a bit sad that coding is much less accessible then when I was a kid – turn on the C64 and get typing in BASIC was how I learned

think that’s why they made the Pi and the Microbit (and other devices), and all the associated teacher packs to go with it.
sure you can just install Python (think it is already installed on Mac?) or something similar, but the Pi/MicroBit you have no choice but to think of a project and code something to make it do something.

And the Arduino IDE isn’t exactly beginner friendly either

not even an IDE either, really. just an editor with a few buttons.
and it (at least the Linux version) has bad java font rendering that makes my eyes go funny.

If games take your fancy then have a look at gamemaker. It seems to be an ingest point for quite a few people in the games industry and has its own language and I think it helps you to learn to code. I’ve not used it myself as I wound up jumping straight into unity3d.

Flashing lights of course, if something has flashing lights it must be good!

go with some kind of arduino or a raspberry pi. either have good communities and resources like books and tutorials to support them.

I’m a C/C++ programmer.. I learned AMOS (basic on the amiga), pascal (borland turbo pascal) and then did C and C++ (and COBOL blerrgh!) at college (early 90s!).

As far as recreational programming goes I was always inspired by The Demoscene, so was making little graphical apps and mini games

Ye gods, you have my sympathies.

Started on an Apple II actually. It explains why I tend to write very dense code with no documentation so I can’t work out how it works 6 months later!

Very limited memory, even a limited number of variables and no arrays on some systems, and need to use assembler to get it to do anything unauthorised – you kiddies don’t know how easy you have it 😉

just had a thought… for non flashing LED stuff, messing around with graphics and suchlike, unlike “the olden days” where we’d often have to use assembler to access video memory things like Processing exist. (also see http://www.openprocessing.org/ full of examples)

i found this book quite good for ideas : http://zenbullets.com/book.php (which i transferred into C++.. ;))

best of all, processing is free.. and uses a C++ / Java “like” language

I teach Computer Science & ICT at secondary school. I lead on the KS3 curriculum and we cover Code.org, Scratch, Kodu, BBC Basic and then Python between Years 7 – 9. I’d suggest jumping straight in to Python and if you are a complete novice this book’s pretty good (a kid brought it in to show me today). ‘Computer Coding for Kids’ by Carol Vorderman. It covers the basics and only costs £5.
http://www.theworks.co.uk/p/computing-books/computer-coding-for-kids/9781409347019?CAWELAID=720011340001905724&CAGPSPN=pla&CAAGID=18221917361&CATCI=pla-98622388361&catargetid=720011340002258989&cadevice=c&gclid=CJHWjriwoM8CFegW0wodjfgGJA
There are obviously other ways of getting in to it, but this is very user friendly and step-by-step.

Not used Python but I do a bit of Powershelling in my job. You could use that just to arse about with files on your Windows PC as practise.

The problem I found with the Pi is to do anything, like make a program automatically start when you power up, you have to dive into Linux. With the Arduino you just turn it on.
Plus if you have PC, to get the Pi to work you have to plug the keyboard, mouse and monitor into it, so either you get new kit for the PI, or you swap stuff over. Or you remote desktop into the PI, which again, is a load of Linux.

There is a great iOS app called Swifty, which gives you great, interactive introduction to Apples language, Swift, which is based largely (and is very similar too) C.

It’s really good for “on the go” or lunch time sessions, but won’t give you a fully hands on approach. For that, you need code academy.

I was thinking of something like this – I did BASIC as part of my computer studies ‘o’ level in 1984 which also required me to fill in cards with some sort of special pencil to feed into a card reader to run a program – will much have changed?